Sunday, July 10, 2011

Bill & Ed's Excellent Adventure...Day 25...Saturday, July 9, 2011...Antigonish




We're up early again (I see a pattern here). Brenda is returning to Yarmouth today, and she's anxious to get an early start on a long drive.
My admiration for Brenda is limitless...I can not a imagine a better frind, companion and guide to the wonderful Province of Nova Scotia. She drove long miles with Ed and I in her own car without complaint...over hill and dale to show us a side of Nova Scotia that we would never have seen without her. And, all along the way, she relayed a steady stream of information about people, places, history...a special person for a special journey.
It's rainy this morning, so packing up is a priority. Our friends camping next to us, Wayne and Nancy, stop by for awhile...fun conversation with fine people. Brenda is off around 9:00AM, while Ed and I are still packing up. Around 10:30 or so, we're off to Antigonish...about three hours away.
We've booked a campsite at Whidden's in Antigonish for Sunday/Monday, but not Saturday...so...once in cell phone range, we call...and we're in! Our first stop is in the town of Malagash...home of Jost Vineyards. They have some excellent wines...so...I buy a few bottles. Further on, we stop in a small little town for a "Donair". This is Nova Scotia's version of a "Gyro"...and, I suspect, the name "Donair" is a variation of the "Doner" that you find all over Germany and the Netherlands. Our Donairs are excellent...a great lunch.
On we go, through a pouring rain, toward Antigonish. Around 3:30PM, we arrive at last at Whidden's Campground. It's raining too hard to really set up camp, so Ed and I head off in the rain in search of a friendly tavern. Fifteen minutes later, soaked to the skin, we're sitting at the bar at Piper's Pub for a few cold ones. It's the next to the last day of the local "Highland Games", so there are many people about...some of whom play the bagpipes. So...we enjoy our beers, listening to the music, watching a Tampa Bay Rays game on television...here in Antigonish.
Around 6:00PM, there's a break in the rain, so Ed and I head back to Whidden's to set up camp...and enjoy a few beers before dinner.
We use the Coleman Camp Oven again to heat up our leftover Donairs...and easy, but hardy, dinner. A couple from Indiana stops by after dinner, and we have a nice conversation. It seems like they've visited all of the National Parks that I have visited...so we spend an hour "comparing notes".
Then a few Molson Cold Shots before bed...another long (and very rewarding) day.


Ed's Sidebar, Day 25:

Our friend and guide, Brenda, left for Yarmouth this morning. Thanks Brenda! May the Winds of Blomidon blow favorably for you.

The gods are still displeased today. The Five Islands have become four. The flood rises around us. We depart as refugees for higher ground, no ark in sight. Through wine country we flee, past Tatamagouche Bay, past the Pictou Harbor, and on to Antigonish with its Highland Games. We reach the highlands at last. Yes!

1 comment:

faranya said...

I miss you guys! The fine wine, the gourmet cooking, the conversations and joking around. It seems awfully quiet here at home. Cash keeps asking me, "They're coming back, right? When?" And I have to tell him no, and then explain the intricacies of road-tripping across 1/4 of a continent. He doesn't get it, though. Dogs have such direct thought processes. Whoever coined the term "cut to the chase" must have been a dog owner.

But I'm happy you made it to Antigonish (The Nish, my daughter calls it, having been a student there). And that you found donairs, pipers, pubs and merriment. Out of rain come such moments of brightness! I hit a literal wall of rain around Coldbrook. That's maybe 15 miles southwest of Blomidon, you know - just past Kentville. So I did the only realistic thing: stopped at the old Scotia Gold market for death-by-chocolate ice cream, size large. It was excellent - but I'm still here. I guess it was just a near-death experience.

Hope you're enjoying the Highlands. Watch out for those moose! A friend of mine is up there at the moment and just posted a moose photo on Facebook. It looked scary big and it was a female. The bulls are humongous.

Meanwhile, Bill, I seriously believe we did see a UFO. Obviously it was unidentifiable. It flew, and it was definitely an object and not an illusion. I'll never forget seeing it, anyhow.

Take care!!

Brenda